Folk Magic Archives - Cailleachs Herbarium

Scottish Crannog - Roundhouse in black and white

Birth

The Sacred Circle of Home and Hearth

Our homes were round once – a sacred circle. Imagine. A home with no corners. A roundhouse. Folk say the Romans made houses rectangles and introduced the cross-cutting corners of bureaucracy. The ideal Roman city was a regular grid of streets dividing square building plots or insulae. From here, the Insulae became a public marketplace. The Basilica was located on one side, and on the other, the Council Chamber and Civic Offices. You can’t provide hierarchical order without squares. There’s equality and the ‘chaos’ of equity in circles. The roundhouse, the meeting place of communities. There were very few large

Scott Richardson-Read

folk charms

The Legacy of the Evil Eye in Scottish Folklore

In the mountainous highlands and rugged borderlands of Scotland, the ancient belief in the evil eye, known as the “uncannie eye” or “ill eye” still lingers, casting a shadow over folklore and daily life. For centuries, Scottish folk have whispered of the malicious power carried by envious glances, capable of withering crops, souring milk, or striking down livestock. Rooted in both Gaelic and non-Gaelic traditions, the evil eye, air-an-cronachadh has been blamed for misfortune, illness, and mysterious deaths, making it a central theme in Scottish folk magic. From rowan charms to self-deprecating blessings, generations have crafted rituals and protections to ward off

Scott Richardson-Read

Healing well spring in Scotland - Cailelachs Herbarium

Folk Magic

The Scottish Folk Magic of Healing Wells, Springs and Lochs

Scottish healing wells or stroopie wells hold a deep and long history. Stroopie comes from the Gaelic word tobar-shrùbaidh meaning healing well the last word shrùbaidh sounds like stroopie. We know from archaeology and other deposits throwing of gifts and offerings into bodies of water, wells, bogs, lochs, rivers and springs has been going on for a very long time and its still present in some living traditions today. Water is also part of the ideas of Scottish Cosmology and deep reverance in our myths and lore. In Scotland a lot of wells once associated with healing have been associated with

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Animism

Scottish Cosmology of the Three Realms

Introduction – Celtic cosmology To understand why Scottish folk practice includes a focus on nature – earth, sky and waters spirts and its animated world we need to understand the roots of this island and its associated cosmology. This post explores Scottish cosmology and “Celtic” and Gaelic cosmology ideas and hypothesis in an attempt to unpick some of the more modern elemental systems found in Scottish folk magic. Scotland is a small part of a larger nation and has been influenced by many different cultures- some though war and raids some through colonisation and settling and then the march of

Scott Richardson-Read

People in Kilts urinating up a wall - Cailleachs Herbarium

appropriation

Scottish Cultural Appropriation – Revisited

I have written a lot about my views on Scottish spirituality and folk belief before, but I’ve never really spelled out the position – why of things. I’ve explored Scottish cultural appropriation and appreciation through a story you can find here and I’ve touched on Scottish cultural appropriation a wee bit here but having been sitting with these ideas and thoughts for as long as I’ve been writing about it, I feel now is a time to be bit more prescriptive about my feelings around this and where I find myself positioned in these discussions. I no longer want to

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Commodification

Folk Devils and Saints in Scottish folk magic

Folk devils and saints in Scottish folk magic occur time and time again. Folk devils are tied to stories in our land and demonise our past folk traditions. Saintly spirits (along with folk devils) are called up for healing, cursing, childbirth, protection, and everyday life. Other stories tell how we could call upon them to place ourselves into the devil’s care as a form of initiation. Folk devils and saints are the agents in a lot of operative folk magic. Scottish Folk Magic Practitioners embrace them as part of a syncretic approach to folk magic quite rightly as sometimes this

Scott Richardson-Read

dead

Divination by shoulder blade – scapulimancy–Slinneanachd/Slinnairachd

scapulimancy – Slinneanachd – Slinnairachd – divination by shoulder blade in Scottish Folk magic an exploration of the evidence and method.

Scott

Disability

Self-making – Disability in Scottish Folk Magic – Gods in Wheelchairs

I ‘m currently obsessed with the idea of parts of the self in Scottish folklore. Not just our bodies but what our spiritual DNA or what our sprit was once thought to be made of. It’s not just a mind, soul and body we are talking about here. It’s a convoluted and crooked construct with quite a few areas to explore. These conversations seem entirely missing from Scottish folk magic practice forums and debate. Exploring this topic I have allowed my inspiration to take me through the literature trail and reflected on the experience of those who are “othered” through

Scott

Folk Magic

A Memory of Water – Folk Magic is Community Magic

The below is the introduction for the event Dreaming Bread and Skyrie Stanes on the 11th of November 2018. I thought I’d share it on the website for folk who can’t make the day. I’m also nervous about public speaking tomorrow, so if it all goes tits up you know what I was going to say :) I live near a river. The Jed water. It flows right at the bottom of my garden enclosed on all sides by walls. Before it reaches us, it flows past ancient ruins and forest as old as Scotland. Some of the last

Scott

Isobel Gowdie Album Cover Art by Stonemaiden Art ( used with permission)

Folk Magic

Interview – Isobel Gowdie Concept Album – with Stone Maiden Art and Ex Reverie

My folks have always told me I have more a face for radio than I do TV. I also don’t like associating myself with my writing to any great degree. I’m no brand – I think I’m still scarred by the kickstarter promotion. So, doing a recorded interview is a step toward bravery for me. However, I just couldn’t pass it up for these two amazing, enchanting and quick of wit folk. I had the great pleasure to bend the ear of the enchanting Julia Jeffery from Stonemaiden Art. Also the captivating Gillian Chadwick (from the band Ex Reverie). About their

Scott

Ancestors

When the Spirit Moves You – Moving House and Animism in Scottish Folklore

They say moving house is one of the most stressful things. It’s right up there with death and divorce. Having moved to a new house over the Bealtainn weekend I can agree. Though luckily no one got killed and we are still married. It’s been a maze of solicitors, paper work, travel, packing and unpacking boxes and general DIY until my body ached too much and I had to sleep, stressed pets, stressed people and so many plants to move … I spare you the rest of the gory details. We made it through. All in one piece. Now it’s

Scott

Cailleach

The Cailleach – Scotland’s Midwife – Tigh Na Bodach

The struggles and revelations of Scotland’s people are stamped into the landscape, like wrinkles on the palms of old lady history some say put there by the Cailleach herself. Some experiences deep ravines. Other lines the soft touch of poetry skimming the surface like scree. With such deep history surrounding us it can’t help but inspire thoughts about the riddles of these places. Secrets coded in name and metaphor. Dark brooding and inspirational names captured in Gaelic given to desolate munro, shadowy river and unfathomable loch. Names such as Bod an Deamhain – the devil’s penis (point), Dùn dá Gaoithe

Scott

Ancestors

Scottish Folk magic and the dead (part three) – folk charms, herbs for the dead and second sight

The mist the dew, the dew the mist The mist, the dew, in the eye of my love In the eye of my love, Thou who didst open the young eye Close it tonight in the sleep of death In the sleep of death – the road to the isles 1927 This series explores our ancestors experience with the dead and folk magic. Veneration of the dead was born from encounters with the Neolithic landscape, dualism of Roman and later Christian thinking and smatterings of Norse fatalism and anglo-saxon pragmatism. All Scottish folk magic stems from this cultural intertwining. The role of the

Scott

Ancestors

Scottish Folk Magic and the dead (part two) – The dead as a witch familiar

It is the familiar spirit of the place; It judges, presides, inspires Everything in its empire; It is perhaps a fairy or a god? (No, in fact it was a cat, ed) – Charles Baudelaire (the flowers of evil, 1857) The call of the desolate, dank and dead. Twilights veil settles thickly on a resting landscape. Nightfall’s gloaming orange light catching the harl, billowing mist unrolling like a generous feather duvet. Vapour peaks and troughs captured by the sinking Valium sunset form a myriad of grotesques as they rise and fall from sight. Unrelenting drizzle frames Scotland in driech endless

Scott

Ancestors

Scottish Folk Magic and the Dead (part one) – Funerary customs and death related lore.

Introduction I introduced a series of writing exploring the role of the oft neglected dead in Scottish folk magic. If you haven’t read it I suggest you have a wee read. It sets the tone of the rest of the series. Due to the amount of lore and other related bits of information this article is quite dense. A fuller exploration of the subject of funerary customs, death and folklore requires more writing than I feel I’m capable of in a web format. (and maybe more than you’d like to read- It needs chapters). To keep the flow a little

Scott

Ancestors

Scottish folk magic and the dead (an introduction)

Dondering around the countryside, sauntering through glen, dirt track, woods and burns. Battling the wind and falling leaves. Passed graveyard and sacred stones. An idea presented itself. To write a series of posts embracing the theme of the season. The dead. There’s a lot of information kicking around already about the dead and their relationship to Scottish folk magic traditions and lore. Some populist and modern, others older or academic. Most of it focussed on the dead as a secondary or tertiary concern to Scottish life. However, there is a different role the dead and the Sidhe/Sith play. A more

Scott

Animism

Plant Communication | Animism & Genius Loci | Terroir & Phenomenology.

I have recently been reflecting about a conference I spoke at a while ago. A few people were discussing a problem they felt they had in getting to know plants. What is plant communication, the delegates were asking? What does it feel like? I didn’t have any answers for them as a lot of this tends to be subjective and I’m not an expert on this area at all. We discussed expectations and experiences though. What did they mean? What was their understanding of communicating with plants? I said in summary “If you’re a herbalist you are already connecting but

Scott

poppy field - javier-canada-lpqgCtnyhjw-unsplash

Animism

The Colours of the Seasons – red, black and white

The ever-changing colours of the seasons and hue of the year is something that’s always fascinated me. When I lived in cities it was something that didn’t seem so clear. I would catch the greening and browning of trees and the spectacular autumn hues of leaves. A sign of the seasons in itself. Anything subtler was lost on me. Now I can’t imagine missing the colours of the wild hedgerows. Summer starts turning them foamy white, as they are saturated with Hawthorn blossom. The subtle shades of the amazing purples of the Highland Heather in bloom. The dark purple of

Scott

Animism

The Frith – Divination from Augury

I have discussed the Frith – Gaelic divination charm practice before but omitted the augury signs which i have included below. Scottish folks had many ways of finding things outside of the second sight. One of these techniques is called the Frith. Frith translates in gaelic “to find”. Macaplpine describes it as “an incantation to find whether people at a great distance or at sea be in life.” The place the objects we see in the person casting the “vision” let us know the outcome or fate of the one we seek. The Frith is religious in character and is

Scott

Ancestors

Who the hell is Sidhe? – Fairy Faith and Animism in Scotland. A Challenge to Divinity

This post about the fairy faith been a long time in the coming. I can only apologise for that, I have been busy researching for a new book that explores these issues in more detail. I was asked to discuss the idea of the Sidhe or Síth in Scottish culture. During research for the upcoming publication many ideas have come forward. Some of these ideas I spoke about last year at the Scottish Radical Herbal Gathering. This post develops those ideas found in the post Dead to Deity. It’s also a think piece. It presents a different narrative to what

Scott

Exploring the archives

Category: Folk Magic

Category: Folk Magic

Category: Folk Magic

The Sacred Circle of Home and Hearth

The Legacy of the Evil Eye in Scottish Folklore

The Scottish Folk Magic of Healing Wells, Springs and Lochs

Scottish Cosmology of the Three Realms

Scottish Cultural Appropriation – Revisited

Folk Devils and Saints in Scottish folk magic

Divination by shoulder blade – scapulimancy–Slinneanachd/Slinnairachd

Self-making – Disability in Scottish Folk Magic – Gods in Wheelchairs

A Memory of Water – Folk Magic is Community Magic

Interview – Isobel Gowdie Concept Album – with Stone Maiden Art and Ex Reverie

When the Spirit Moves You – Moving House and Animism in Scottish Folklore

The Cailleach – Scotland’s Midwife – Tigh Na Bodach

Scottish Folk magic and the dead (part three) – folk charms, herbs for the dead and second sight

Scottish Folk Magic and the dead (part two) – The dead as a witch familiar

Scottish Folk Magic and the Dead (part one) – Funerary customs and death related lore.

Scottish folk magic and the dead (an introduction)

Plant Communication | Animism & Genius Loci | Terroir & Phenomenology.

The Colours of the Seasons – red, black and white

The Frith – Divination from Augury

Who the hell is Sidhe? – Fairy Faith and Animism in Scotland. A Challenge to Divinity

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